Three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to predict and even design novel proteins — the building blocks of life — were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, University of Washington biochemist David Baker woke up to his phone ringing. When he answered the call, his wife began screaming. Baker had just been told that he, along with two other scientists,

Half the prize goes to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper from Google DeepMind for using AI to solve protein folding, and the other to David Baker for tools to help design new proteins.